In the autopsies published in the book by Freed and Briggs, KILLING TIME, Dr. Irwin Golden, the coroner, described several of the wounds, bruises, and abrasions as "defensive." The stab wounds into both victims' scalps were defensive in that the skull is pretty tough and those with martial arts training will lower their heads to receive a stab move if they can't evade them. Both victims had stab marks into their hands which Golden listed as defensive.
Also considered defensive moves by Golden were the forearm bruises on Ron Goldman which are most likely the attempts to block an arm wielding a knife.
Imagine the force involved when a murderer is trying to stab someone and the victim tries to stop the move by using a forearm. If the blow causes a bruise on the victim, realize that there would be a comparable bruise on the forearm of the killer. Ron was not a passive victim. With both his tennis agility and marital arts training, he was capable of putting up a fight and the bruises on his arms show he was able to do some defensive acts. And the killer would come away with signs of those impacts.
The autopsy on Ron also indicated that he may have struck some serious blows. In addition to the bruises reported on his arms, there were bruises and abrasions on the knuckles and the back of his fingers that are characteristic of offensive moves in karate. Golden indicated they were "defensive" moves" but that can be understood as the actions of someone defending himself. If there were such blows, they landed on the killer(s).
As strong and agile as OJ might have been at the age of forty six with knees that were arthritic, it is highly unlikely that he could have come out of that bloody attack without himself having been seriously beaten up. Put Ron and OJ into that small garden area outside the Bundy condo, a space smaller than your smallest bedroom and only slightly larger than your walk-in closet, can you imagine anyone coming out of a "to-the-death" struggle without bruises and abrasions?
When OJ was examined by police physicians the day he got back from Chicago, and a few days later by the physicians brought in by the defense, there was not a bruise on him anywhere.
The autopsy also reveals that Nicole not only used her skull and hands to block attempts to stab her, she may have struck a serious blow on one of the killers. On the right side of her head is a serious bruise. It is possible that she used a head butt against someone holding her from behind and broke his nose. She was five foot five, and weighed 129 pounds so a move by her could pack a wallop, with a corresponding bruise on her own body. According to Freed and Briggs in their book KILLING TIME, blood was found on her back that did not belong to her, Ron, or OJ.
A careful reading of the autopsies offers clues not only that there were more than one person involved in the attack on Nicole and Ron, but that they fought back with some skill and force, doing damage to their attackers and requiring from 8 to 15 minutes before the two were overcome. Nicole was not a pansy and Ron, an athletic 171 pounds on a five foot nine body, did not go down without a major fight.
That major fight could not have been with OJ.
Showing posts with label Dr. Irwin Golden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Irwin Golden. Show all posts
Monday, March 7, 2016
Sunday, March 6, 2016
The People V. . . . The Autopsies 1
The autopsies where done on June 14, Nicole at 7:30 am and Ron Goldman at 10:30 am, with Detectives Vannater and Lange present, roughly 36 hours after the murders. Dr. Irwin Golden conducted both. He was not called to testify by the prosecution. His supervisor did that.
Before I try to describe any of the wounds the victims received, I need to clarify two things, the shapes of the stab wounds and the difference between a bruise and an abrasion.
The latter is easy in that abrasions have a break in the skin such as a scrape and a bruise does not. I will deal with them in my next posting. For this one, I will focus on the stab wounds.
The stab wound shapes are much more subtle. For example, a standard kitchen knife having a six inch blade has a stabbing shape of a long, narrow triangle. One end of the stab is tapered and the other end had a flat edge about one sixteenth of an inch wide. A sword or its dagger-sized cousin the stiletto leaves a stab wound that has two tapered edges and no flat edges.
Dr. Golden identified stab wounds of at least three kinds: stiletto, standard blade with 1/32 inch flat edge, and standard blade with 1/16 inch flat edge.
When Detective Fuhrman tried to reconcile the three different shapes of stab wounds, he suggested a field knife that was tapered from the point to two inches in where the flat edge began relatively thin and widened as it got farther from the point. Below, let me address the stab wounds each received under the three shapes Dr. Golden identified with each victim. First will be the length of the wound, then the size of the edge, and finally the depth of the wound which he was able to determine by using a probe into the wound.
Nicole Brown Simpson's stab wounds:
To the left side of the neck:
(1) 5/8" wide, 1/32" edge, 1-1/2" deep
(2) 1/2" wide, 1/32" edge, 2" deep
(3) 7/8" wide, 1/32" edge, 1" deep
To the left hand:
(1) 1/4" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
(2) 1/2" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
To the scalp:
3/16" wide. tapered edges, 1/8" deep
This kind of detail suggests that there were at least three different knives (or even two or more attackers with the same kind of knife) involved since the respective depths preclude the kind of knife Fuhrman envisioned.
How about what the autopsy reports about Ronald Goldman?
To the left side of neck:
6" wide, 1/16" edge, 2" deep
To the right side of the neck:
5/8th" wide, 1/16" edge, 2" deep (additional tapered stab mark was there too)
To the right ear:
1-1/4" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
To the right cheek:
5/8" wide, 1/32" edge, 1/4" deep
To the scalp:
(1) 5/8" wide, 1/16" edge, 3/8" deep
(2) 1/4" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
To the chest:
(1) Right side, 5/8" wide, 1/32" edge, 4" deep
(2) Right side, 1-1/2" wide, 1/32" edge, 2" deep
(3) Right side below ribs, 3/8" wide, tapered edges, 1" deep
(4) Left abdomen, 3/4" wide, 1/16" edge, 5-1/2" deep
To left thigh:
2-1/8" wide, 1/32" edge, 3-1/2" deep
To the right clavicle border:
1/2" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
To the hands:
(1) Right hand, 3/4" wide, tapered edge, 1/2" deep
(2) Right hand, 1/2" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
(3) Left hand thumb web, tapered edge, 1/4" deep
Note that all but one of the major wounds is a stab wound and not a slash.
Again, it has to be concluded that there were at least three different knives. Given the amount of time it took for the two victims to bleed to death (I have chosen not to add all of the knife-related injuries nor have I indicated which were fatal). Each victim was left unconscious. Ron's wounds led to fatal internal bleeding as well as some external while Nicole's were external. It is highly unlikely that OJ would have carried three knives and took turns using them. Look at the stab wounds to Ron's chest. All three kinds of blades are indicated and they went into Ron from different directions.
Freed and Briggs, in their book, report that witnesses saw four men fleeing the scene.
Before I try to describe any of the wounds the victims received, I need to clarify two things, the shapes of the stab wounds and the difference between a bruise and an abrasion.
The latter is easy in that abrasions have a break in the skin such as a scrape and a bruise does not. I will deal with them in my next posting. For this one, I will focus on the stab wounds.
The stab wound shapes are much more subtle. For example, a standard kitchen knife having a six inch blade has a stabbing shape of a long, narrow triangle. One end of the stab is tapered and the other end had a flat edge about one sixteenth of an inch wide. A sword or its dagger-sized cousin the stiletto leaves a stab wound that has two tapered edges and no flat edges.
Dr. Golden identified stab wounds of at least three kinds: stiletto, standard blade with 1/32 inch flat edge, and standard blade with 1/16 inch flat edge.
When Detective Fuhrman tried to reconcile the three different shapes of stab wounds, he suggested a field knife that was tapered from the point to two inches in where the flat edge began relatively thin and widened as it got farther from the point. Below, let me address the stab wounds each received under the three shapes Dr. Golden identified with each victim. First will be the length of the wound, then the size of the edge, and finally the depth of the wound which he was able to determine by using a probe into the wound.
Nicole Brown Simpson's stab wounds:
To the left side of the neck:
(1) 5/8" wide, 1/32" edge, 1-1/2" deep
(2) 1/2" wide, 1/32" edge, 2" deep
(3) 7/8" wide, 1/32" edge, 1" deep
To the left hand:
(1) 1/4" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
(2) 1/2" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
To the scalp:
3/16" wide. tapered edges, 1/8" deep
This kind of detail suggests that there were at least three different knives (or even two or more attackers with the same kind of knife) involved since the respective depths preclude the kind of knife Fuhrman envisioned.
How about what the autopsy reports about Ronald Goldman?
To the left side of neck:
6" wide, 1/16" edge, 2" deep
To the right side of the neck:
5/8th" wide, 1/16" edge, 2" deep (additional tapered stab mark was there too)
To the right ear:
1-1/4" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
To the right cheek:
5/8" wide, 1/32" edge, 1/4" deep
To the scalp:
(1) 5/8" wide, 1/16" edge, 3/8" deep
(2) 1/4" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
To the chest:
(1) Right side, 5/8" wide, 1/32" edge, 4" deep
(2) Right side, 1-1/2" wide, 1/32" edge, 2" deep
(3) Right side below ribs, 3/8" wide, tapered edges, 1" deep
(4) Left abdomen, 3/4" wide, 1/16" edge, 5-1/2" deep
To left thigh:
2-1/8" wide, 1/32" edge, 3-1/2" deep
To the right clavicle border:
1/2" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
To the hands:
(1) Right hand, 3/4" wide, tapered edge, 1/2" deep
(2) Right hand, 1/2" wide, 1/16" edge, 1/4" deep
(3) Left hand thumb web, tapered edge, 1/4" deep
Note that all but one of the major wounds is a stab wound and not a slash.
Again, it has to be concluded that there were at least three different knives. Given the amount of time it took for the two victims to bleed to death (I have chosen not to add all of the knife-related injuries nor have I indicated which were fatal). Each victim was left unconscious. Ron's wounds led to fatal internal bleeding as well as some external while Nicole's were external. It is highly unlikely that OJ would have carried three knives and took turns using them. Look at the stab wounds to Ron's chest. All three kinds of blades are indicated and they went into Ron from different directions.
Freed and Briggs, in their book, report that witnesses saw four men fleeing the scene.
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